On today's show: 1960's radical Mark Rudd speaks in Pittsburgh, Trials of those arrested during the G20 continue, Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh [PRONOUNCE: MAH - zin kum SEE yeh] on the history of Palestinian nonviolent activism, News from the canada-us border and more in our local and global headlines.

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We turn now to local stories.

Headlines

Local News

[7:00] Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh on the history of Palestinian non-violent activism

On March 2nd, the Pittsburgh Palestine Solidarity Committee hosted a talk by Dr. Mazen Qumsieh, a Palestinian professor who has written new book tracing the history of Palestinian non violent resistance.

Dr. Mazen Qumsieh’s new book, which will be published this year, is titled “Hope and Empowerment: A History of Popular Resistance in Palestine”. In two weeks we’ll bring you more from his talk in Pittsburgh, including his research on Palestinian popular uprisings and his experience with increasing Israeli harassment of nonviolent activists, which he believes may be initiating a new uprising.

Wrapup

Global News

Intro

You are listening to Rustbelt Radio, the Pittsburgh Independent Media Center's weekly review of news overlooked by the corporate media. We turn now to news from other independent media sources around the world.

Civil Trial for Rachel Corrie starts [1:00]

On 16 March 2003, American peace activist Rachel Corrie was crushed by an Israeli bulldozer as she tried to prevent the demolition of the family home of a Palestinian doctor in the Gaza Strip. On 10 March, an Israeli court in Haifa began hearing testimonies in a civil trial brought by her parents.

In a statement, Rachel's parent's Cindy and Craig Corrie said:

"March 16th marks the seven-year anniversary of Rachel’s killing. We hope to mark this day as a “Day of Conscience” with a large gathering that calls for truth, accountability and justice, in Rachel’s case and beyond. There will also be events in Gaza (at the Rachel Corrie Children and Youth Cultural Center in Rafah), the West Bank, and around the world. If you are not with us in Palestine/Israel, please think about how you and your group/community can be visible/audible on March 16. We expect this to be a challenging time, but we know the friendship we have felt from so many of you over the years will help us navigate the weeks ahead. Though the course and outcome of the trial are unknown, we welcome the opportunity to raise and highlight many of the critical issues to which Rachel’s case is linked."

Greek popular uprising protests austerity measures [3:00]

Protests have erupted across Greece in response to a new financial austerity plan signed into law by the Greek government. The government has been under heavy pressure from the European Union to resolve its debt crisis; the austerity plan cuts government spending while increasing tax revenues. The plan freezes pensions, cuts public sector pay, and increases the general sales tax, as well as taxes on cigarettes, alcohol, fuel, and luxury goods.

Six months ago it was revealed that Greece’s debt was twice as high as public records to date had shown. European Union members are required to have debt less than 3 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product. Greece’s debt, at 12% of the GDP, is four times greater than that limit. However, it is comparable Britain’s debt load, and in relation to national GDP it is lower than the debt of Japan and the United States.

The faulty recording of the debt was engineered at the time of Greece’s entry into the European Union, and aided by prominent banking firms such as Goldman Sachs. Other EU members similarly masked their debt in order to gain entry.

The Greek debt has been incurred for several reasons. Corruption is rampant in the government, in part because employees are paid low wages. Furthermore, the government did not set aside pension wages into a pension fund as they were paid, and now has incurred enormous pension obligations. However, since the initial discovery, the financial crisis has worsened because of speculation. The same banks that helped to hide the level of Greek debt together created a market for debt insurance. Speculative trading has driven the price of the debt insurance higher and higher, thus increasing market fears about Greece, and making it more expensive for Greece to get loans to service its debt.

As speculators have profited from trading on the Greek crisis, causing it to worsen in the mind of the market, the material facts of the Greek economy have not changed. With the new austerity plan, however, the crisis will now be paid for from the salaries of government employees and the pensions of retired workers. There is widespread anger at this plan among the citizenry. 3 million workers, out of a total labor force of 4.9 million, participated in a general strike on Thursday march 11. The strike shut down almost all transportation in the country, and closed all the banks, schools, and public offices. 150 thousand people came to public demonstrations in Athens, Greece’s largest city, in the largest public demonstration in fifteen years. In an effort to directly prevent the austerity measures from taking effect, striking interior ministry employees have occupied the government printing press. Under Greek law, all new legislation must be printed in the Government Gazette before it can take effect. The government is now pulled between massive grassroots opposition to the reforms, and pressure from other members of the EU. The three major umbrella unions that called the strikes, in response to the anger of their members, provide essential voting blocks for the socialist government now in power. However, the other members of the EU fear that the Greek crisis will destabilize the value of the Euro, and are leaning heavily on Greece. Other EU members, including Spain, Italy, Portugal, and Ireland, have similar weaknesses in their economies. Since financial markets respond so heavily to fear and speculation, containing the Greek crisis is seen as a way to lessen the spread of speculative responses into these economies.

[5:10] California Education Protests

On March 4th, protests were held all across California against proposed cuts in the state education budget. The new cuts would raise university tuition 32 percent, and would also affect the states’ public schools systems. Since 2007, 24 billion has already been cut from the education budget. Schools have been closed, hundreds of teachers laid off, and class sizes reach 40 students in some schools. The protests included walk outs from public schools, mass marches, and building occupations. Hundreds of thousands of people across the state took part, including a wide spectrum of students, teachers, university support staff, and faculty.
In the bay area, after a march that drew over 10,000 people, several hundred protesters blocked interstate 880, until police brutally mass arrested 144 of them. Indymedia video footage shows the police beating people with truncheons who are already on the ground with their hands up. During the police push to arrest the protesters, a high school student also fell off the interstate to land 30 feet below. He is recovering from head trauma and broken bones.
At UCLA, students marched to the chancellor’s office with a list of demands. When the office refused to see them, they read their demands outside with a megaphone.

The students held a sit-in lasting 5 hours. The only response was from a vice chancellor who said that there would be no statement from the office, and no meeting.
The March 4th demonstrations are the result of a massive organizing effort across all sectors of public education. Student groups; unions representing teachers, professors, graduate students, and university employees; and parent advocate groups all came together last fall at the Mobilizing Conference to Save Public Education. After hours of open collective discussion, the participants voted democratically, as their main decision, to call for a Strike and Day of Action on March 4. All schools, unions and organizations were free to choose their specific demands and tactics.

However, his solution was to propose privatization of the prison system to cut costs. Critics responded that a far more effective and just cost cutting measure would be to change the drug laws that have massively expanded the state’s prison population. Civil rights lawyer Michelle Alexander wrote in the LA Progressive:
(quote) The skyrocketing incarceration rates of the past three decades have not affected all segments of California’s population equally. African Americans and Latinos have been hardest hit, thanks largely to the war on drugs — a war that has targeted people of color for drug crimes, even though studies show they are no more likely to use or sell illegal drugs than whites. (endquote).

For more coverage of the pro-education demonstrations in California visit the websites for Bay Area indymedia, www.indybay.org, and Los Angeles Indymedia, la.indymedia.org.

[ 1:15 ] Student Loan Reform

Meanwhile the fate of a major student loan reform bill, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, known as SAFRA, has become linked to the passage of health care reform. SAFRA would expand pell grants and perkins loans, which help low income students pay for college. It would also remove private banks as middlemen in the federal student loan process. All new loans would be through the direct loan program, directly between the government and the borrower. Currently, the loan money comes from the government, but more federal money is then paid in subsidies for banks to administer the loans, which are guaranteed by the government and therefore risk free for the banks. The change would save between 67 and 87 billion dollars, insulate student loans from economic swings affecting private lenders, and protect students from the extortionary practices of private lenders.

SAFRA passed the House of Representatives last September, but has not been introduced into the Senate because of fears of a Republican filibuster. Now democrats plan to try to pass SAFRA through the budget reconciliation process, which requires only a 50-vote majority. However, only one budget reconciliation bill can be passed per year, and Obama hopes to pass health care reform in the same bill. Currently, student advocates are pressuring Congress to pass the bill, but private lenders are lobbying against it, many of whom make substantial campaign contributions to members of congress.

[10:00] US - Canada border update

In Part 2 of an ongoing series, Deconstructing Borders examines the U.S. - Canada border as a unique space where the government can search and interrogate people who otherwise avoid such close interaction with authorities.

[17:00] Former SDS/Weather Underground Member Mark Rudd Speaks in Pittsburgh

1960's radical Mark Rudd has recently released a book entitled "Underground: My Life with SDS and the Weathermen." This book explores his involvement in political organizing as a young student at Columbia University, to becoming a founding member of the Weather Underground. He spoke at a local bookstore in Pittsburgh on March 2nd, and the next night at the University of Pittsburgh to a large crowd of students, activists, and anarchists.

During his first appearance, Mark spoke about how he got involved in organizing in college and later described the perspective he has developed over the past 40 years regarding the Weather Underground's use of violent tactics.

As the dialogue around the G20 progressed, several audience members found themselves at odds with Rudd's statements. Many attendees argued with Rudd, and walked out in a mix of disgust and frustration with his perceptions of how activists approached the G20 in Pittsburgh.

The entire recordings of both of Mark Rudd's appearances in Pittsburgh will appear on our website shortly. Check indypgh.org to hear the complete version of these presentations.

Ending

Calendar of Events

And now we present the Indymedia Calendar of Events:

On Thursday March 18th from 7-9pm, B. Loewe, one of the two national organizers for the US Social Forum, will be passing through Pittsburgh on his way to DC. He will do a short presentation and answer questions. There will also be a number of Pittsburghers who participated in the USSF in Atlanta. Find out about the US Social Forum and how you can participate! This event will be held at National Association of Letter Carriers Hall, 841 California Avenue on the Northside.

On Saturday March 20, The Thomas Merton Center Antiwar Committee is joining with several local and national coalitions and networks in urging an all-out bi-coastal mobilization of all opponents of the U.S. wars and occupations. Busses from Pittsburgh will leave for Washington DC for a national march against the 7 year mark of the Iraq War. For more information on the trip, go to www.thomasmertoncenter.org

On Wednesday March 24th at 7pm, there will be a special meeting of the Association of Pittsburgh Priests. Rich Gosser, executive director of Partners in Progress, which supports rural sustainable development in Haiti, will speak of his 3 weeks recently spent in Haiti and the situation on the ground. This event will be held at Epiphany Catholic Church located at 1018 Centre Avenue next to the Mellon Arena.

On Saturday March 27, from 5pm – 9pm at the Hazelwood YMCA, there will be a Freedom Festival that will feature educational presentations, readings of Mumia, and information from Pittsburgh families fighting the wrongful incarceration of their loved ones.

[1:00] Outro

[ Outro Music ]

Thanks for tuning in to Rustbelt Radio here on WRCT Pittsburgh, WNJR Washington, and FRSC Santa Cruz.

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Tune in next week at this time for another edition of Rustbelt Radio, the Pittsburgh Independent Media Center's weekly review of news from the grassroots.